Ten Things I Learned About Landscape Photography in 2018

2018 is old news, but that doesn’t mean we’re quite done learning from it. As you reconsider some of those New Year's resolutions, it’s important to revisit the previous year to celebrate milestones and shed some light on meaningful goals in 2019.

Although I expected most of my own takeaways to center around photography technique — like neutral tones and light painting — many of my takeaways came down to changes in lifestyle to better accommodate photography: to make the most of my landscape photography trips, I started journaling and performing retrospectives, and to break out of creative ruts I set aside time — and my camera — to engage in boredom.

I encourage you to take the next week to look back over 2018 and jot down your achievements, milestones, failures, and lessons learned. You’re a better photographer, and a better person for it!

With 2018 for context, what do you want to see when you look back in 2020? Time is a powerful ally: by investing just one hour each day in your craft, you are investing the equivalent of 9 weeks of full-time work! That’s not just wishful thinking — by investing 2 hours in the morning on week days, I took my photography part-time and prepared for a year of travel to photograph the world.

What did 2018 teach you about landscape photography, and what do you want to say about yourself in 2020 when you look back on 2019? Share your learnings and goals in the comments.

Jonathan Lee Martin is a fine art landscape photographer, educator and globetrotting digital nomad. He’s traveling the world for a year to discover unique landscapes and help fellow landscape photographers lighten their load to go further.

6 Comments

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Jonathan! You really seem to have a great perspective and appear to be so mindful of your world and goals, which can be exceedingly difficult for some/many of us. Wishing you the best in 2019!